


A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet

by SilentAvera



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Bakery and Flower Shop Setting, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, GET THAT TRAGIC NONSENSE OUT OF HERE, Happy Ending, Humor, I REGRET NOTHING, Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, M/M, Romeo and Juliet References, Save the present to save the past, Tongue-in-cheek Shakespeare, YOI Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-09-27 00:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentAvera/pseuds/SilentAvera
Summary: A Romeo and Juliet retelling BUT EVERYTHING TURNS OUT OKAY IN THE END -





	1. Act I

**Author's Note:**

> For niane.tumblr.com!! via the yoisecretsanta2018 ;;w;;
> 
> I hope you like it, thus far, I'm so sorry I couldn't finish this time ;; it became quite the project of love X3

_Enter the Cherubs, our narrators, CHERUB CHRIS, CHERUB YURIO, CHERUB PHICHIT, and CHERUB MINAMI; all dressed in white attire of their choosing, looking down on the world below from their perches in heaven._

Cherub Chris (smiling, gazing at the world below): How many times can a story of love be told?

Cherub Phichit: As many times as the world turns it seems!

Cherub Minami: I’m always down for a romance tale X3

Cherub Yurio (obviously annoyed, patting a cloud to make it rain): Flee, flee you abysmal mortals.

Cherub Chris: It appears one of us needs a reminder of how powerful love is~

Cherub Minami: A STORY 8D!!!!

Cherub Yurio: No story.

Cherub Chris: _The_ story it is then~

Cherub Yurio: Stop it –

Cherub Chris: Let’s set the scene shall we?

Cherub Yurio: I hate you all –

Cherub: Chris: *Ahem*

Cherub Yurio: ……

Cherub Chris: *Ahem*

Cherub Yurio: ……

Cherub Chris: *Ah-em*

Cherub Yurio: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD –

Cherub Chris: See you’re getting it back already~!

Cherub Yurio: *HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS*

Cherub Chris: *A-hem.*

Cherub Chris:

_Two households, both alike in prosperity,_

_Conjoined in Wakkanai, enclosed by seas,_

_Who trades in belligerent loaves and odious lilies,_

_To nurture swollen hearts riven by twin tragedies._

_In a single night, their heirs took the mourning ferriage._

_Wounded accusations twisted streets into caverns,_

_And friend to foe once as close as marriage,_

_Dooming three generations justly stuffing civility in a chaffern,_

_But finally, a chance to repair the tear at the source!_

_Descendants long misunderstood, fearing a legacy of loss,_

_Prove love, not stars, does guide true through discourse,_

_Pray, rewrite the fate bent of their family’s cross!_

_Our lives were cut short, but our despair dost depart,_

_No vitality lies truer than that of the heart._

Cherub Yurio:…..

Cherub Chris: What?

Cherub Yurio: Iambic Pentameter

Cherub Chris: Does not exist in heaven ;3~

Cherub Yurio: Okay but –

Cherub Chris: Nor does anyone else need to needlessly suffer 83

Cherub: Yurio: Wuss.

Cherub Phichit: Let’s introduce the cast of our families :D! They’re pretty well known all around Wakkanai, although I think at this point they’re only tolerated because of how good their services are…Everyone thinks it’s such a shame they can’t let the past go!

Cherub Chris: On the West side of The Street, a flower shop, the business of the Nikiforov Family, all who are extremely gifted gardeners! They also own a large greenhouse near the outskirts of town that supplies said flower shop all year-round with the most beautiful blooms anyone could buy!

Cherub Chris: There now look, that handsome young man tinkering with his guitar when he should be sorting seeds! That blue-haired and grey-eyed fox is the eldest Nikiforov sibling, Nikolai~

Cherub Minami: He can be best described as if his momma placed headphones on her belly and belted out ‘WHEN I WAS, A YOUNG BOY, MY FATHA, TOOK ME INTO THE CITY, TO SEE A MARCHING BAND’ –

Cherub Phichit: Ah yes, that American band MCR, Nikolai fell out of the Gerard Way tree and hit every single branch on the way down. He is super sweet, the sweetest of sweethearts, and he plays the guitar!

Cherub Chris: That old woman pruning the roses near him is the matriarch and head of the Nikiforov family –

Cherub Phichit: Satan.

Cherub Minami: The Dark One.

Cherub Yurio: ****

Cherub Chris: We’ll simply call her _Grandmother._ She has a personality that is not of the generous nor kind consensus.

Cherub Yurio: There’s a bus with her name on it.

Cherub Phichit: That middle-aged woman watering the plants is Grandmother’s daughter, Evgenia, she is quite the gossip monger, and her bouquet designs are the envy of Spring~!

Cherub Minami: The man next to her is her husband, a man of few words, and even fewer emotions, we’ll just call him Evgenia’s husband.

Cherub Chris: Ah, and here, at the register, wistfully looking out the window is one of our golden boys, if not THE golden boy~ The youngest Nikiforov, our best boy, Victor <3

Cherub Yurio: Victor is the spitting image of the son that died in a fire all those years ago, a fire which also claimed my life and Chris’.

Cherub Chris: unu;;

Cherub Yurio: His grandmother is very protective of him after hearing the stories from her own mother of the brother she had lost in the blaze. The family places their hopes on Victor that he will carry on their shop’s legacy considering he has the potential to be the most talented of the group with his marketing skills….but his daydreams get him into trouble – standing around and letting his mind wander away – JUST LIKE DIMITRI –

Cherub Chris: Ah, yes, but what _does_ his gaze seek out the window? What pulls his attention away from his tempered duties?

Cherub Phichit: Across the way, on the East side of the Street, is a bakery, the business of the Katsuki family, all who are extremely gifted bakers!

Cherub Minami: The young woman with the bleach tipped hair rolling the dough is Mari, the eldest Katsuki sibling! She’s really cool and laid back, loves her family and I love her ear piercings!

Cherub: Phichit: The man sitting at the counter going over inventory is Toshiya, the papa, he’s typically quiet, but he’ll crack a joke or two here and there, however if he gets himself a taste of sake, eeeeeh, let’s just say he loses his filter –

Cherub Yurio: I am Russian and I say that man CAN DRINK –

Cherub Chris: You have never had a drop of alcohol in your entire life –

Cherub Yurio: BECAUSE I DIED WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN YOU MORON –

Cherub Minami: Even STILL –

Cherub Phichit: Moving on 8’3, ah, yes! The wonderful woman slicing up pears for pear tarts is Hiroko, the momma <3 She is super sweet, but has some bite to her if her children are threatened in any way –

Cherub Minami: WHICH BRINGS US TO THE OTHER GOLDEN BOY 8D THE REAL BEST BOY 8DDDD!!!

Cherub Phichit: Yes, our boy, the youngest Katsuki, Yuuri <3!!! As the fates deem it, he too is looking longingly through the window of the shop~ Hm~ Whatever could be running through his mind as he leaves his hands on auto pilot to tend the bean balls –

Cherub Minami: YUURI IS A BEAN BASKING BAWLING BALLER –

Cherub Phichit: Yuuri is male, but he is the spitting image of the daughter that died in a carriage crash that also claimed my life and Minami’s.

Cherub Minami: ;;;n;;;

Cherub Phichit: Understandably, Yuuri’s family is very protective of him in much the same way that Victor’s family protects him. His mother grew up listening to all sorts of terrible stories about the Nikiforovs, and she’ll be damned if her baby is to be swept away by some careless (*cough*) Nikiforov (*cough*) charlatan!

Cherub Chris: And Victor’s grandmother is astute in shaping Victor into the image her ghosts desire, remnant of times that have faded as much as their photographs of Russia. Both families migrated to Wakkanai, but…..when Dimitri and Yuki met, it was if the heavens themselves deemed the journey thus.

Cherub Minami: Yuki was beautiful….. _Beautiful_ ….When Yuuri lets his hair get long, I swear I’m looking right at her!

Cherub Yurio: Victor’s eyes, his eyes……um……

Cherub Chris: Dimitri and Yuki were – _are,_ dear, dear friends of ours, but their _souls_ (*sigh*) cannot rest until their families are at peace, for they blame themselves of the tragedy that took them, and us, and severed what was once such a promising union.

Cherub Phichit: But it was all a terrible accident! There is no one to blame but chance, and it has pained us for so long to see their families fight and fight and _fight,_ leaving our star-crossed lovers to soothe a course that will not be tamed. Their flowers bloom steadily, helped by Dimitri, their loaves are always sweetened, helped by Yuki, everywhere, every chance they get, they temper their families with _love_ to try and chip away at the ice that freezes them in the past!

Cherub Minami: Thankfully, their efforts finally bore fruit! Mari and Nikolai were the first to see past the hatred when they were but toddlers! And then~ AND THEN~! Came the most wonderful thing~!

Cherub Chris: When Victor and Yuuri fell in love <3

Cherub Yurio: It was wonderful at first….But these two IDIOTS haven’t CONFESSED to each other yet! _They keep beating around the bush –_

Cherub Chris: Literally –

Cherub Phichit: _Moving on~!_ 8’D Dimitri and Yuki have been guiding Victor and Yuuri respectfully as carefully as they can to protect them, but….it’s only a matter of time before the imminent confrontation with their families comes to be….And giving how they’re pushing them to get further into their respected trades and traditions, we can only suspect that they can sense something is up between the two of them…

Cherub Chris: Yes, alas, the lovers have a seemingly impossible task ahead of them as they fear the past will be doomed to repeat itself – the night Yuuri and Victor were born held the same stars as when Yuki and Dimitri were born!….How strong are the wishes of a life long smothered?

Cherub Yurio: This time they must believe in something stronger than the stars themselves. If the past were to repeat itself, their families would end, and we’ll never see our friends again…but, if Yuuri and Victor triumph, then at long, long, _long last,_ their families, and Dimitri and Yuki’s souls, will be at peace.

Cherub Chris (gesturing to the land below): And so our tale unfolds as both families prepare for the town festival, and our lovers, both alive and not, wander, _wonder,_ how they will be able to meet, _again._

 

Yuuri’s hands only fumble when they’ve run out of bean balls to chill –

“Yuuri,” his mother calls, “Your daydreams are going to cost you that batch” –

“Oh! Ah, it’s fine, they’re fine!,” Yuuri calls back.

She softly tut-tutted, “You’ve been daydreaming more and more,” she continued as she set the oven, “You want to talk about it? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

 _*Oooooooh, not this,*_ Yuuri thought, “I’ve…just been thinking about my future, that’s all…”

“Oh everything will work out, it always does,” Hiroko smiled sliding in tray after tray of dough, “Your schooling as gone very well,” Hiroko walked up to Yuuri, taking his hand in her own, warm to cold via their stations, “I’m sure you’ll be accepted into whatever school you decide,” she squeezed her grip, “I’m so proud of you Yuuri.”

He smiled, “Thanks mom….”

Mari butted in, “This Hallmark moment has been brought to you by, Existential Despair! Now complete with reassurances from near-by family members that you aren’t doomed to” – Yuuri took a swath of frosting with a plastic spreader and slid it over Mari’s cheek –

Mari paused, taking a swath of the frosting via her finger and tasting it, _“You did not just use coconut on me” –_

“Nut for a nut” –

“Kids” –

 _“It’s on boy”_ – Mari grabbed a cup of frosting, her own spreader as Yuuri held his own up like a sword, standing his ground – _clack, clack, clack_ the handles met – the both of them giggling and stumbling all about the kitchen, amazingly not a pot, plate, or rack was disturbed.

“Mh, you’ve trained them well,” Toshiya commented as they barreled past him.

_“Have I?”_

Beyond was Yuki, adding a layer of sweet to Yuuri’s bean balls while he played with his sister, smiling warmly, *I played with my siblings much the same way.*

Mari held up her shirt over her mouth to try and muffle her voice deeper, the light from the window behind her darkening her shadows, _“’These violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die – like fire and powder – which as they kiss, consume’”_ –

Yuuri suddenly thought he caught a glance of Victor through the window past her, making him pause –

“AH-HA~! WIDE OPEN~!” ( _*WHAP*)_ -

Yuki sighed, *Oh Yuuri…you must be more vigilant than that….*

**~*_*~**

Grandmother took a deep breath of the rose she was pruning, her fingers old, but experienced, tilting the bud as gently as the touch of morning dew, “…..It’s not easy to cultivate this land for lack of resources, durability is the hallmark of our brand, we’re respected so tell our sources, they speak our flowers are the best in the land.”

Dimitri, raising the leaves on a batch of Lilies could not roll his eyes any harder.

Nikolai echoed the statement with a lazy strung of his guitar, “Okay Babushka.”

“Put that instrument away or it will serve as mulch for my roses,” she clacked her shears.

Nikolai tossed his leg over to heave himself up off the bench, “’Kay.”

“Bring me Victor from the front desk while you’re up.”

“HEY VICTOR, BABUSHKA WANTS TO SEEEE YOOOOOOOUUUUUU~”

Nikolai’s bellow almost made Grandma clip an entire bloom off, _almost._ “Instead of a leaf, my shears will clip those guitar strings instead…”

Victor entered the room, “You called, Babushka?”

“Come, have a seat.”

“I can stand.”

Grandmother continued with her gaze focused on her work, “…Your online marketing campaign has boosted our exposure, all of our designs are selling. You have helped continue our surplus beyond expectations. Our sister shop in St. Petersburg is still open as a result.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Mh. Enough money has been set aside for you to attend the university of your choice.”

“I’m aware.”

Grandmother clipped a leaf off, “Then why, do you want to stay, _here?”_

“I like it here.”

 _“Your potential demands more of you._ Something is keeping you here.”

Dimitri gulped for Victor; Victor stayed even, “Is it so wrong to stay with my family?”

Grandmother clipped the next leaf painfully slow, “It is not” –

“Then” –

 _“However,”_ the sharp clip of the shears made Dimitri jump, “Blossoms bloom more supremely with rich, fertile soil. This place is, _quite_ the opposite of that” –

“And yet our family has survived here” –

 _“Survived._ A weed can survive. Don’t you think you deserve to _flourish?_ That you, deserve, _better?_ Listen carefully Victor, your marketing skills enrich numbers that are produced out of necessity; we are the only flower shop in town. Our sister shop in St. Petersburg is barely treading water with the competition that surrounds it.”

“Close it.”

Dimitri’s eyes went wider than dinner plates.

Grandmother set the shears down, “….You know why I cannot do that.”

Dimitri sent all the psychic ghost signals that he could for Victor to NOT push the issue further –

Grandmother continued, “Our survival hinges on the whims of others. Your skills are good Vitya, you have the _eye,_ but if you are to support your family, or so you claim, it is wise to see what the global threshold our market is catering to. There is no input to embellish your knowledge here. There is no need to grow here, to thrive, the means are just to _survive.”_

“…Are you thinking of sending me to Russia? To help our sister shop?”

“I want you to understand that when it comes time for you to spread your wings, are you going to be an eagle? _Or a tit?”_

“………”

Cherub Yurio: Oh here we go –

Cherub Chris: Victor is a corvid, end of story –

Grandmother saw the curl of Victor’s snark on his lips but cut him off before he got a chance to retort – _“This is your future Victor. If you care so much about our family as you say you do, then you would do well to groom yourself into a fine gentleman capable of supporting a wife.”_

“I have frequented my future much in my musings. The order in which I put my life together is none but my own, despite clinging criticism.”

Grandmother did not break eye contact with Victor, “To fetch a relationship _now_ would be foolish when you cannot even support your means.”

“I won’t fail him.”

Dimitri nearly fell off the earth.

_“Him?”_

For the first time, Victor nearly betrayed himself with a nervous swallow.

Grandmother’s eyes narrowed. Victor did not waver, she finally broke eye contact to pick up the shears and continue tending her roses. “I see. No doubt you’ll see _him_ at the festival won’t you? Do I know, _him?”_

“You have never met him. In fact, he exists only in my dreams.”

It wasn’t a complete lie, truthfully, Grandmother would never know the real Yuuri aside from the vision she conjured up when thinking about everything she hates, such a shame, and recently, Victor could only conjure forth a reel of private moments with Yuuri in the sanctity of his own mind.

“I should, get back to prepping for the festival” –

“Yes, agreed, instead of chasing a fictional reality,” a line Grandmother delivered coldly, “Blooms do not last forever, after all, our lively hoods depend on our patron’s whims to purchase a moment in time; you don’t have any more _time_ to waste.”

“…Very much agreed…. a _name,_ a _family,_ is _only_ as eternal as the members who procure it.”

Grandmother cut off an entire stem.

Victor was looking his Grandmother in the eye, “You’ve done exceptionally well upholding the traditions of our family, Babushka.”

“You will do the same.”

“…Will I?”

Grandmother slammed her shears down on the table, _“Do not take my 87 years on this earth for granted! I’ve seen the orchards of decayed seeds sown into the lot of them, and yet, and yet! Your eyes carry over to the other side of the street?! Victor…”_

Dimitri -> ono;;;;;;

“Since when was keeping an eye on our dreaded rivals a bad thing?”

_“Do you think those wishes on your lips go unheard?”_

“Such aaaas?”

_“I will not allow such immature desires spoil generations of cultured heritage” –_

Victor smirked, “I only wish to _cultivate_ a bloom so spectacular that _none_ can deny it. Perhaps such a flower’s fragrance could add a sweetness to our soured atmosphere?” Victor magiked a rose bud from his sleeves, and gracefully presented it to his Grandmother.

“……..”

“…….”

“You may be able to sell a blind man his own portrait, but you will never sell me the idea of a Katsuki entering my threshold. _I forbid it Victor.”_

“Alas, you’re outside of my intended market!”

“……”

“……”

Dimitri: If I wasn’t already dead, I’d have died.

Grandmother’s eyes bore straight through Victor, _“Finish your bouquets….Dismissed.”_

Victor left quickly without another word.

Dimitri was left to bonk his head repeatedly in the corner….*Oh my Yuki….he really is as bad as me….*

Cherub Yurio:….Dimitri pursued Yuki much the same way. Putting her above everything else in his life. Tossing aside his own ambitions to court her…She never meant for him to hinder himself.

Cherub Phichit: And neither will Yuuri allow Victor to do the same ._.

Cherub Yurio: ****!!!! ****!!! *** ** **** **** *** ***!!!!!!!

Cherub Chris: Speaking in Morse again are we?

Cherub Yurio: **** ***!!!!!!!!!

Cherub Chris: _Mercí~_

Cherub Yurio: _RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHGHGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!_

Cherub Chris: Oh you _loquacious_ little thing~

**~*_*~**

After washing himself up from his paste fight with Mari, Yuuri came downstairs to find Deputy Georgie slumped over their bar with a monaka half in his mouth, the jam spilling out over his plate. Mari (also freshened up) turned to Yuuri with the expression _‘Want to help me clean this up again?’_

“Oh Georgie, I’m afraid to ask what happened,” said Yuuri as he put on his apron.

Georgie groaned, completing his bite, leaving the rest of the sweet to part ways from his mouth, he chewed slowly, letting bits dribble from his mouth.

“You’re going to get your uniform covered in sugar,” said Mary flatly.

“In love again?” Yuuri asked as he approached.

“Out of love, (*squeak*) _I’m afraid,”_ Deputy Georgie choked back his tears –

“Aw, what happened this time?”

Deputy Georgie squeaked so high and shrilly that Toshio and Hiroko peeked out of their office (retreating once they saw one of their best customers) – Mary began miming turning the knobs on an old radio, “I’m sorry captain, the distress signal coming in doesn’t have any coordinates, oh, _it sunk” –_

“Mari be nice,” Yuuri scolded, “Well, I can honestly say Georgie if I had my heart broken, even once, I don’t think I’d ever get up again, but you’ve had your own broken so many times, and yet you still manage to keep on at it! It’s as if your heart is as strong as a punching bag! You’ll be back to your old self in no time!”

 _“Victor’s tact is rubbing off on you,”_ Deputy Georgie spat.

Yuuri frazzled internally, “Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend” –

Deputy Georgie finally pushed himself up, “There, the critical difference between you two, you care so much Yuuri, as for Victor, _pbbth,_ he’s just like the other Nikiforovs, _self-centered and stuck-up.”_

“…He’s really not,” Yuuri replied quietly, “He really does care, he’s just, _unique_ in showing his ways.”

“If you say so,” Deputy Georgie sighed, “I’ll take an order of andagi, please.”

“Finish your monaka serving first,” said Mari with a mewl smile, “It’s rude to let Yuuri’s hard work go to waste.”

Deputy Georgie inhaled the rest of the sweets, “MMMMH~! Honestly Yuuri, you’re going to take your parent’s business to the next level, I heard on the grapevine you’ve got an offer to a culinary school in Tokyo! That’s no small feat!”

“I’ve gotten several offers…in fact.”

“Good for you! You’ll be able to escape this town then” –

“Mh….”

“Hey, why the long face?”

Yuuri turned away, almost shyly, his eyes betraying him as he glanced across the street briefly, “I’ve…just got a lot on my mind right now…I don’t want to rush into anything I’m not ready for.”

Deputy Georgie stood up, _“Not ready for?!_ Not r _eady_ for! My Yuuri, you’ve got to _seize_ the day, seize the _moment!_ Life is as _fleeting_ and _precious_ as the rays upon the morning dew! _You’ve got to ssssssip it” –_

“M’kay” –

“You’ve got to run up to life, look it in the eye, and pledge that you’ll _never_ take her woes or whims for granted! You’ve, (*sniff*), you’ve got to tell her, _confess it,_ confess (*SNIFF*) your desire upon the bosom of the blade of uncertainty that sowed a bead of blood on your beating heart! Only then, _THEN,_ will you be free of the shackles of the nameless siren who whispered ghosts on your lips of a future promised and a future stolen unless you cry out to the heaves above _ANYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_ (*cough*) _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa~!!!”_

Yuuri and Mari just watched Deputy Georgie sink all the down to floor, once again in a pool of tears.

_“UUUUUWOOOOOO YUURI~! DON’T, DON’T WASTE YOUR LOVE ON SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T VALUE IT….(*SOB SOB SOB*).”_

*Duly. Noted,* Yuuri thought.

“Hey,” Mari nudged Deputy Georgie with her foot, “we’re going to set up our booth soon, sooooo, if you could, you know, direct our customers where we’re at, we’d appreciate it.”

Deputy Georgie replied with more sobs, Mari rolled him over onto his back, “(*SNIFF*) Don’t worry, I’m here on detail to make sure that, you know, you guys get along with the Nikiforovs” –

 _“Get along with the Nikiforovs,”_ came Hiroko’s voice from the family’s office, “Now there’s a story as outlandish as you settling down!”

Deputy Georgie just wailed in response, curling up in the fetal position –

“Harsh mom, harsh,” Mari muttered.

“It can’t be helped,” Yuuri sighed, “Just that name alone brings out the worst in her.”

“Like magic.”

Yuki sighed to herself, her ghost lingering at the window, looking across the street, *Yes, just the name turns your sweet, sweet mother into a harpy….*

Hiroko appeared from the office, a couple boxes of wrapped goodies within her arms, “Alas, our booth is just a couple stalls down from their own!” Hiroko huffed, “OOH! Just any ONE of them walking near our buns turns the whole tray rancid! I’m surprised their own flowers don’t wilt in their presence! Poor blooms!”

Yuuri rolled his eyes, thankfully at an angle his mother couldn’t see.

“Please Mrs. Katuski, Yakov really means for you people to get along,” Deputy Georgie pushed himself up, “He doesn’t want another, ‘accident’ like last year” –

“They put a BEE, in my BREAD BASKET! Scared a poor child! Unacceptable! _Unacceptable!_ I will _not_ be made a fraud like the lot of them, our work is _honest,_ and nourishes hearts and minds all over this town! But _their lot_ is as degenerate as the ground were the cows drop their dung!”

“Mother~! Language~!” Mari mocked.

“…Actually fertilizer is good for the ground” –

 _“Any house built upon a ground so toxic to spook a horse into madness would need all the help it can get,”_ Hiroko spat.

Yuki flinched.

Hiroko looked away, and sighed, “Oh my dears, I’m sorry I showed you all such a nasty side of me.”

“…Better to get that out now,” said Deputy Georgie, “I really don’t want to send out any citations, least of all to your family…Anyone that makes such delicious sweets, there’s a temper to your soul that just, makes the whole batch better. I’d hate for your hatred of the Nikiforovs to turn even a single grain of sugar sour.”

Yuki continued her silent lamentation. She could feel the distress radiating off of Yuuri, she could feel the pull of his heart, and the soft slowly hum of fear nestled in his core….*Once again, she unknowingly trampled your feelings, mh Yuuri? I know the feeling, all too well.*

**~*_*~**

Victor and Nikolai were both busy setting up their booth, and by both setting up their booth meant that Victor did all the work while Nikolai serenaded him with his guitar, it wasn’t like Victor was using his ears for anything important as his eyes muted out everything else to focus on the dark haired angel that was placing out a tray of manjū.

Their eyes met briefly, a shared blush, Yuuri quickly looked away to leave Victor’s gaze longing to catch his eyes again –

_“Your eyes follow at his every behest, how shapely dost his body set?”_

Victor finally looked over, “What?”

“Do he got the booty?” Nikolai strummed his guitar, “He dooooooooo~”

Victor snorted at his brother.

“Babushka retired for the day so early...What on earth did you say to make her so mad?”

“The truth.”

“Ah yes, she does hate that..."

“I’m sick of it Nikolai, I’m sick of this petty feud, I’m sick of hearing her trash talk him and his family, I’m sick of her pushing me to be a clog in her _war machine” –_

“Poetic~”

“I’m going to marry Yuuri. End of story.”

“Question.”

“Yes?”

“Does Yuuri even know you love him?”

“I would think so, yes.”

_“Are you sure~?”_

_“Yes” –_

“Because Mari and I talk, aaaaaaand, bruh, I think Yuuri might need a,” Nikolai made an obscene gesture _– ‘Helping hand’” –_

_“Will you stop that” –_

“You are so cute when you blush!”

_“Annoying” –_

“Follow in my footsteps dear brother, you see Babushka gave up on me, that’s why she pushes you so hard, you’re the only one she thinks that will give our family a chance at a better future, she does love us” –

“HA” –

“In her own, mean, backwards, bigot way…..” Nikolai strummed his guitar into a melancholy melody. “She’ll never approve Victor.”

“Your point? I don’t want to hide anymore, I’m not gonna sneak around like you and Mari” –

“It’s called, texting, and calling, and face-timing, and, I don’t know if you know, but Victor, Skype” –

“Oh shut up” –

“Oh speak of loveliest sounds of a siren’s call” – Nikolai sat up, Mari was walking toward them with a load in her arms – “By my _daisies,_ here comes a Katsuki!”

Victor set down his vase of flowers, “By my violets, I scare not…..You haven’t even confessed to _her_ yet –”

“SHHHHHHHHH” –

“PBBBBBBBBBBTH!!”

Mari was walking up the brothers with a basket full of loaves, the eyes of the townsfolk watching with bated breath. Mari and Nikolai shared very mewl smiles (Nikolai internally screaming since Mari had her hair up in a new and very lovely way), Victor sniffed the air, *….I can almost smell my Yuuri….*

“Dear Nikiforovs~!” Mari bowed overtly elegantly to them, “a peace offering, of Nikifoloaves~”

It took everything Nikolai had to not burst out into laughter, “Thank-you, Milady Mari, I accept these Nikiforloaves with most prudent gratitude~ LO, what we have to offer, just cannot compare~!” Nikolai pulled out a blue rose seemingly from nowhere, “A rose for a woman, who is true and fair” –

“Yeah, yeah, cool it Romeo, hey Victor, my brother wants to speak with you tonight.”

“Certainly, I’ll call him as soon as –”

“Nah man, in person.”

_“….How?”_

“Figure it out, but make it happen, trust me,” Mari looked Victor in the eyes, “It’s important. Toodles.”

The brothers watched her leave, Nikolai interested in the sway of her hips, he strummed his guitar –

“How shapely does her body set?” Victor mocked –

 _“’He jests at scars that never felt a wound.’_ Oh baby brother, I’ve shielded you from too much.”

Victor snorted as loudly as he could.

Dimitri inspected Mari’s gift, he remembering all the gifts Yuki brought him. Even with so many years past, he can still taste the handmade treasures she created just for him.

“What is that?” came Evgenia’s nasal voice –

“This? ‘Tis but a gift” –

“Ugh, a bribe, have they no shame? To waltz over to our youth and con their defame?”

“What?”

“Nevermind the Katsukis give the chief and his, ‘deputy’ all the sweets they want, they’re native to _our_ country, they must suffer to maintain the law, and they do good to build up their resistance to poison by eating that filth.”

“I want to eat it,” said Nikolai.

“How do you know it’s not laced in laxatives?”

“Oh PLEASE!” Victor stood up to his full height (a good two inches over Evgenia), “If this batch even remotely moves one drop of your stomach acid, you’ll say the wind from your butt blew you to Kagoshima!”–

Nikolai, overpowered by his gluttonous desire, chomped the bread too hard, inhaled too hard from an ill-timed laugh, and began to choke –

“AH! AH! THERE YOU SEE!! THERE YOU HAVE IT!! THOSE BASTARD KATSUKI’S HAVE COME FOR OUR HEIR AGAIN!!!” She stormed over to their booth – several townsfolk already shouting and calling for the police to arrive – Mari and Yuuri looking at her like deer in headlights –

Victor was knocking on his brother’s back to lodge out the bread, “YUURI!”

Even Nikolai, as he was choking, had to concur the poor young man and his sister were in far more danger –

Deputy Georgie quickly stepped out in front of her, “M’am, I’m afraid I’m going to need you to ask you” –

“MOVE ASIDE YOU WANNABE SHERIFF” –

“OOF” –

Before Mari and Yuuri could do anything – Hiroko leapt from god knows where, landing in front of her kids, holding a karate pose – “Make one more step towards my babies Evgenia and you’ll be wearing the ground you walk upon” –

_“What are you gonna do? Punch my ankles?”_

“Auntie Evgenia” –

_“You get my name out of your mouth you four-eyed pig-nosed pathetic excuse of a –!”_

What happened next, came from both a place of anger and NOOOOOOOOOOOO REGRET – who launched the first blow? None can say (Victor, it was Victor), for once sweet precious baby Yuuri was insulted, there flew a basket of violets (Victor), there flew a pie (Toshiya) – and as soon as Evgenia’s husband saw his wife under attack – he charged out – Evgenia threw herself at Hiroko – who rolled under her, and yes, kicked her ankles – which made the hot-headed witch trip and fall over herself –

“FOR THE HONOR OF THE NIKIFOROVS!!”

“FOR THE HONOR OF THE KATSUKIS!!!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” –

“RAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH” –

While their parents chucked ammunition of flower petals and sweets, Nikolai, done choking, found his way over to Mari –

“Mari!”

“Oh good, you big goofball, you couldn’t have a glass of water on you? A gardener? With no water on him?”

“Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t exactly planning on setting off this precipitous chain of events. I wonder if this is how Dimitri felt –

Dimitri: YES THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FELT, AND THEN A MILLION TIMES WORSE AFTER THAT –

Their parents paused mid-fight to yell at their kids, “NIKOLAI!!”

“MARI!”

“DON’T JUST STAND THERE!” they yelled in unison – and continued the fray –

“Wow.”

“Amazing.”

“The only time our parents will ever agree on anything.”

“WELP!” Mari clapped her hands together, “We gonna do this or what?”

“So it seems, destiny lies before us” –

“The stars itself deem it so” –

“Hang on” –

“Yup” –

Nikolai picked up a bouquet of long stem roses, Mari picked up a sack of bread – Nikolai unsheathed the long stem roses as if he was pulling forth a sword, “Milady Mari, alas, yet again on the battle field we meet~”

Mari began dual wielding two foot long loaves of bread, “Aye sir Nikolai, _’One fire burns out another's burning,_ one pain is lessen'd by another's anguish.’”

“To grease the wheels of everlasting transgression, the blight, the pain, the scar of ages” –

“Rest you merry, _punk.”_

“What?”

_(*WHAP*) –_

Yuuri had himself under his family’s booth, he really wasn’t up for a flower/ pastry brawl, and his feelings were impressively hurt – there came a rustle, Yuuri grabbed a defense muffin – and saw it was only Victor coming to join him, Yuuri relaxed –

_“My sweet Yuuri” –_

“I saw you throw the violets” –

“Ah…I threw them at my aunt –”

Yuuri sighed.

“So…Mh…..Mari said you wanted to speak to me, in person?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, here I am dear Yuuri.”

“Yes…there you are…..” Yuuri looked away from Victor, Victor’s heart sank in his chest.

Suddenly, beyond the blanket, flashing lights began running over the scene –

“WHAT, IS GOING ON HERE?!”

The families immediately stopped in their tracks and stood innocently.

Toshiya coughed up some petals. Nikolai had taken a cherry pie to the chest (looking the most gory of the group). Evgenia and Hiroko looked like they had stuffed each other’s products in their hair for safe-keeping – and Evgenia’s husband had buns on his, buns –

Yuuri and Victor appeared out from under the table, Yuuri looking just sad, and Victor flustered.

Sheriff Yakov stepped out of his squad car (with Georgie who had retrieved him) and turned his megaphone all the way up, “THAT’S IT! KATSUKIS!! NIKIFOROVS!! IF THERE IS ONE MORE PUBLIC DISTURBANCE FROM ANY ONE OF YOU, I AM THROWING YOU ALL INTO THE BRIG!!!”

Deputy Georgie turned towards Yakov, “Sir, I could just issue a cita” –

Yakov turned full body with the megaphone to Georgie, “DID I ASK???” knocking him over and went back to berating the two families, “NOW GET THIS STREET CLEANED UP OR YOU’LL BE SLAPPED WITH PUBLIC PROPERTY DAMAGES!”

Given that all there was to clean up was sweets and flowers it didn’t take long before the area was immaculate and the two families, once again, barricaded themselves in their shops.

Cherub Chris: Ah~ It is hard on two lovers, not in love, and harder still, on those in love, with only the comfort, of a window sill~

Cherub Minami: **** you iambic pentameter >:3

Cherub Yurio: Language.

Cherub Minami: AS IF –

Cherub Phichit: Well that went about as smoothly as tossing nails in a blender –

Cherub Yurio: Stupid Victor, he’s going to ruin everything by being so forward!

Cherub Chris: Ah, but what about Yuuri who is pulling back?

Cherub Yurio: THEY’RE BOTH IDIOTS!!!

Cherub Chris: If you ask me, they’re both in an _orchid_ position, and need a little _up-selling,_ to become _best-buds,_ and drive up their _churn rate~_

Cherub Yurio:…..Do you need to see a chiropractor?

Cherub Chris: Why?

Cherub Yurio: _Because did your back hurt from that reach???_

Cherub Chris: I am so unappreciated in my time.

Cherub Minami: You guys…Yuuri is really hurt!

Cherub Phichit: D8>

Cherub Minami: He’s even praying :(

Cherub Chris: So I guess he had an….

Cherub Yurio-> :/

Cherub Chris: Altercation

Cherub Yurio: GOD

Cherub Chris: Yes~

Cherub Yurio: DAMMIT –

Cherub Phichit: Goodness, we’ll see everyone in the next act…Toodles X(

 

_Dimitri and Yuki take their places upon their families’ emblems, for as their relatives rest, their memories grow colder with each new duress._


	2. Act 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3/17/19 Going to do a course correction on this story, it's supposed to be happy, funny, but I always take a U-turn into angst town, so, I'm going to fix that. 
> 
> Of course if Article 13 takes down this site then it won't really matter anymore, for any story, now will it? .-.  
> \-----------------------------------
> 
>  
> 
> Oh my god, I'm so sorry this isn't finished ;;;;_;;;;; rest assured it is my number one goal to get done, I'm not doing ANYTHING else until this story is finished >n<;;;
> 
> Again, I apologize so much for the total of it being so late ;;;_;;; This was not my intention, but rest assured, I will do my best to make a good story for you! As said before, it is outlined, I just got bombarded with other lively issues ;;;;;;;;;;;;_;;;;;;;;;; little of which is no excuse, but it is the truth ._.

_Enter YUURI, golden boy. He has his apron on and is checking a batch of cookies in the oven, looking only faintly pleased as there is a lot on his mind. In the kitchen, there is only silence, on his lips, more than a tremor…_

Yuuri:

            _An old desire steeples in my chest,_

_My affections bore an heir of uncertainty,_

_I have no wind to sail in a sea of unrest,_

_And I fear this static crisis is my destiny…_

_Yet a bewitched paddle continues my campaign,_

_To navigate a starless night, one must be daft –_

_Thus this garish compass I carry in vain;_

_A map threatening fatal exposure I did craft!_

_I pursue this lawless odyssey not for riches or for fame_

_But the shores of his verity at last revealed,_

_I risk knowing if his fondness is the same,_

_And should he concur, my fate is all but sealed…._

 

Yuuri pulls out the tray full of steaming cookies from the oven, Yuki smiling warmly at him from beyond,

 

            _Passion mended me courage, yet time allotted anxiety to breed,_

 

He inhaled deeply of his baked delights, a smile finally spreading over his face,

 

            _Tempering extremities with extreme sweet indeed._

 

Mari announced her sudden appearance by wrapping her arms around her brother from behind, “Are cookies the only thing that calm you nowadays?”

“No, it’s also their consistency and display.”

Mari snatched up a cookie and ate it, moaning obscenely as she chewed, _“MMMM~! Totally,_ another perfect batch, the future of Yu-topia Bakery is all but assured, the House of Katsuki endures,” she clapped her hands together lazily, “These apology cookies will sooth everything right over~! You have nothing to fear about your future Yuuri~”

Yuuri looked at Mari with the flattest look he ever gave, his eyes just peering over his glasses.

Mari walked over to the fridge and pulled out a pack of raw cookie dough, spreading it over a board as she talked, “Ah yes, we the children of the Katsukis once were as un-developed as raw dough, sweet to the taste, but not at all fit to eat” –

“I fail to see the use of this analogy” –

Yuki: I’ll say –

Mari cleared her throat, “ – but quickly comes the time,” Mari picked up a cookie cutter mold, “Where we take the place of our parents, and fall (*STAMP*) toe (*STAMP*) to (*STAMP*) toe, (*STAMP*) in line~”

Yuuri looked at the perfectly cut cookies, all the same.

“The unnecessary bits, are tossed aside, and all that matters, is we repeat the fold of years lost to an unspeakable crime….on a dime.” Mari then just rolled up all the dough bits back together, “WELP, enough of that,” and she perched herself on the counter with her elbow, “Baby brother, the extra _time_ I have been afforded to live on this planet has granted me insight to knowledge only bequeathed to the eldest sibling, you ju” –

“I’m in love.”

“Ah! 8D, you admit it!” Mari patted Yuuri hard on the back knocking his glasses askew, _“IT’S ABOUUUUUUUUUU~T TIME~!”_

_“Mari!”_

“I always knew this day would come,” Mari mockingly wiped a fake tear away, “My baby brother finally going to get himself some ass” –

 _“Can you just,_ ugh,” Yuuri righted himself –

“You’ve been daydreaming _so much~_ You need to come up with better excuses before mom and dad catch on~”

“B-But I don’t know if he feels” –

 _“He~?”_ Mari -> :3c

– “THAT way about me, I know he cares for me, I know he, likes, my company at least, b-but” –

“Oh my god, another person that actually _likes you_ and is interested in your well-being,” Mari mockingly clutched her collar, “The horror!”

Yuuri checked his surroundings before hissing out, _“It’s Victor!”_

“Oh well, at least it’s somebody _I know,”_ Mari dripped with sarcasm.

“Mari! That is a big problem! Especially with my future!”

“Soooooooo you’re going to confess to him then? What happened between you two when you took refuge under our booth? You wanted some one on one time with him right? _Soooooo~?”_

“That’s just it….I couldn’t….I couldn’t bring myself to say, much of anything…With the way things are…our families….what’s the point….?”

“What is the point indeed? How can you be in love with someone condemned to be our greatest enemy?”

“Are you trying to make me feel better? Or worse?”

“Allow me to illuminate, you know that Nikolai and I have been good friends ever since we were little. I heard the same as you, _‘never, ever associate with a Nikiforov, they’re bad dishonest people who only care about themselves and will hurt anyone who gets in their way.’_ Well, one day I saw Nikolai all alone at the park, the same one you met Victor in, and, I walked up to him _and slapped him,_ for no reason other than he was a part of his family. He fell back and looked at me with this, heartbreaking look that I will never forget – I expected him to fight back, but he didn’t, all he did was say to me, _‘Why? Why did you hit me? I haven’t done anything to you, I haven’t done anything to you….’_ And I felt awful! I felt like the worst person on the planet, and then we both cried, and cried, and I confessed I only did so because my parents told me that all of you were bad. He told me his parents said the same thing, but, even at that age, that age where we see our parents as essentially gods, he said he couldn’t believe we were all bad, because he saw me helping an old lady cross the street, and that my hair is super pretty….and then I just went up and slapped him, I told him, _‘well, I guess I just proved your parents’ point’,_ and he said _‘no, because you told me why you did it, and that you’re sorry for doing it’,_ and we talked and talked and we’ve been best friends ever since – I told him I liked his hair, and that it was pretty, and he said it could never compare to mine, pbbth. We found ways to keep our friendship hidden, keep in contact under the hiss and prying of our parents, and no matter what, we always will. Our future is only as bright as we see it. So when I look into your eyes and see this, just defeated expression, that you think you don’t have a chance to grasp at happiness, to be happy with Victor _, you can Yuuri._ You just have to, make a leap of faith.”

Cherub Minami: TAKE MY WINGS YUURI!!!! ;;;;O;;;;;

Cherub Yurio: He’s going to need a mattress really –

Cherub Chris: Oh my~

Cherub Yurio: TO FALL ON YOU PERVERT –

“And let me just say, if you think Victor is going to let you down, if you think he doesn’t feel exactly the same way about you, _sweetpea,_ have you _seen_ the way Victor _looks_ at you? Have you paused yourself on the street, ducked them hips out, and watch Victor cross his legs? _Seriously?_ Seriously. Yuuri, honey,” Mar snickered, “You know what, maybe that is cause for worry, because if you let him get _any closer_ he’s going to mount you” –

Yuuri blushed furiously, _“Can you just stop that?!”_

Mari patted her brother’s back again – “Just have fun with it Yuuri! Nikolai and I have our ways of getting around, we’ll help you guys, and you know I’ve got your back, you’ll find a way. We just gotta be _as clandestine as a ghost’s shadow,_ doesn’t that sound cool?”

Yuki: HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

*That’s just it,* Yuuri thought to himself, *I don’t want to live in the shadows…I want…..I want……* “I need a drink.”

Mari pulled out a bottle of wine from the family bar, “Way ahead of you.” She poured Yuuri and herself a drink, “And there’s more where this came from~” Mari winked.

“I should just feed my worst impulses no?” Yuuri muttered –

“Hey, you only live once~”

Over on the other side of the street, the Nikiforov siblings are winding down the day by restoring stock that wasn’t used in battle (which means Victor is doing all the work while Nikolai plays with his guitar). Evgenia sneers at the inventory list as her fingers glide through –

 _“Exactly how many good plants did we waste?_ I said it before and I’ll say it again, next time we fight, we _use dishes” –_

Victor kept his tongue tightly shut in his mouth.

She grabbed her coat, “Hubby and I will be spending the night at the greenhouse, we’ll see what we can pull from there, if we have to pull any further from our reserved stock, we might be looking at a little trouble these upcoming months, you can market all the best Victor, but if we don’t have the stock to back it up, we’ll have to raise our prices as consequence….. _Damned Katsukis_ ….they can just _cook_ more ammunition! UGH, I don’t see why we have to put forth some _stupid_ _apology_ tribute, I’ll stick poison ivy extract on our roses!” Evgenia followed her husband out the door, “You two check on Babushka before retiring for the night, _don’t forget,”_ and they left.

Victor stuck his tongue out to her vacated presence.

“Hold that tongue~” Nikolai tutted, “You already acted on impulse once, this whoooooole fight escalated because you threw the first swing” –

 _“I did not,_ Evgenia insulted Yuuri – and _you,_ you choked on the bread! _How hard is it to eat bread?!”_

“An innocent use of breathing, lest my lungs cease to the benefit of others?”

Victor snorted.

Nikolai continued to softly play his guitar, “Wo~rds, baby brother, that’s all we have~ Wo~rds, baby brother, it’s what gives us a path~ Wo~rds, baby brother, sometimes seem so unfit, whe~n, baby brother, someone pitches a fit~”

Victor paused, sighing as he stood in place, “….I let it get to me…..I did not hesitate in throwing those violets.”

Cherub Yurio: But Evgenia said such nasty things! She should be punished!

Cherub Phichit: Still, it doesn’t help, it only perpetuates the cycle.

Nikolai strummed an inquisitive tune, “Maybe that’s why Yuuri shut down from you, you’re not the only one sick of this whole mess between our families, but what can you do? You’re not gonna change their minds” –

“No, but I can change Yuuri’s. I won’t let the ghosts of this family come between us.”

Dimitri: For the record, I am trying to help :/

“I’m going to show Yuuri _exactly_ what he means to me, and what I am willing to do so we can be together.”

“Oh~?”

“We’ll pass the tributes tomorrow, I’ll be able to speak with Yuuri a little then, I’ll let him know that I shall meet him somewhere more private – as he wished in the first place, without such frivolous distractions” –

“Aaaaaand, do what~?”

Victor inhaled with confidence, “I will confess everything I feel for him. Honestly. Faithfully. Truthfully.”

Nikolai squeaked, pulling his guitar close to him, “So romantic!”

“I know” –

_“You wish to serenade him~?”_

“Something, something that would tell him without a doubt how I feel for him” –

“I know a couple songs” –

“All you know is that American band, MCR” –

“And a fine repertoire they have to display the agonizing rituals of social extremities” –

“No” –

“Just listen, look,” Nikolai strummed his guitar, “(*ahem*),

_‘Hand in mine, into your icy blues~_

_And then I’d say to you – we could take to the highway –_

_With this trunk of ammunition too” –_

Victor narrowed his eyes at Nikolai.

_‘I’d end my days with you’ –_

Victor narrowed them further, making Nikolai beginning to recoil –

_‘In a…hail of…..bul..lets….?’_

Nikolai sat up and corrected his posture, “Okay, okay, how about this one, _‘If I died, we’d be togeth’” –_

Victor chucked a sponge at Nikolai, knocking a string out of tune, Nikolai fell back laughing, “Baby brother I fear your rendition is but a faux pas, tonight we gather serendipitous emoluments for the cause!”

From upstairs the boys heard their grandmother calling for them, Nikolai sighed and put up his guitar, “Alas these times of woe afford no time to woo~”

Victor chucked another sponge at Nikolai.

Dimitri: About that holding back…? Yeah I didn’t do that either….As they say hindsight is 20/20…Perhaps if I had showed more restraint…much would be different….

The evening came and went with the siblings of each family disposing of their unpleasant night in measured and not so measured means, for instance, Victor wrote a poem with Nikolai, while Yuuri and Mari drank themselves silly.

Come morning, Yuuri was throwing his guts up while Mari is ‘just fine.’

“Yuuri, I’m going to go get us some breakfast, you want an egg sandwhich?”

“UUUUWAAAUGH” –

“I don’t think they serve that, Imma get you an egg sandwhich” –

“WUUUARUGH”-

“And a coffee, okay, got it, I’ll be back” –

“WUORUP” –

“You’re welcome. Ah, good morning momma~”

“Where is my Chardonnay? And my Pinot Noir, and my Pinot Gris, and my” –

“WUUUROOOOGH.”

“…Wonderful. You inherited your father’s tendencies Yuuri.”

Yuuri coughed through the door, “But not his tolereeeeeUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOURGH” –

“Hiroko!” came Toshiya’s voice, “Hiroko the Chardonnay is gone! The Pinot Noir?! The Pinot Gris!”

“Ask your children,” Hiroko answered flatly, she brought her attention back to her kids, “Honestly, you two, I beg of you to find more constructive outlets in dealing with the pressure to tolerate those awful Nikiforovs, Mari, you take the tribute” –

“I really think Yuuri should do it” –

“Well he’s busy throwing his guts up” –

Yuuri suddenly produced himself from the restroom, looking like death was ready to take him, “I’m here, I’m, here, I’m….” Yuuri ran back inside the bathroom, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORUGH” –

“I’m sure he’ll be better by the afternoon….”

“We’ll see….”

Yuki: I got this….

Yuki’s spirit helped Yuuri in feeling better, sending him warm, warm feelings, enough so, that by the time Yuuri emerged from the bathroom, he was able to convince his mother to let him take the tribute.

Yuki: We cannot let any moments to be spent in love, wasted out of foolhardy troves.

As Yuuri prepped the bread basket, Deputy Georgie arrived with the chime of the door –

“Ah, hey Georgie! Good to see you –”

“Not crying for once” –

Deputy Georgie cleared his throat, “I’m just here to oversee the tribute passing….Evgenia won’t be, _present_ will she?”

“Oh no,” said Mari, “it’s going to be Yuuri and Victor, you know, the sane ones. Besides we caught a glimpse of them on our security cameras headed over to their greenhouse any way, and given my mom hasn’t been emitting miasma, they’re not back yet.”

“Mh, that’s good to hear.”

“Yeah, you were nooooooo help yesterday.”

 _“Ouch Mari,”_ Yuuri commented –

“No, she speaks the truth, I was as useful as a clip holding the braids of Medusa, a prop, but none to witness the purpose.”

“That makes, no sense” –

Cherub Chris: Allow me to translate, BLAH BLAH BLAH, BLEH BLAH BLAH –

“I was a special as the odd colored tile on a traveling path of cobblestone, a purpose, some to glance, but just to glance” –

Cherub Chris: BLAH BLAH BLAH, BLAH, BLEAH BLAH BLAH –

–“ trodden upon time and time again, a glance spared by none but footwear, because feet do not have eyes to see” –

Cherub Chris: I dramatize my life to give substance to the monotony of my routine –

“Uh-huh” –

“And yet the eyes that do see, see nothing, but a pigment in the crowd, a faceless entity – barely noticeable but an” –

“Yeah alright great Georgie,” said Mari, “So now, Yuuri’s gonna go take the tribute, and I’m gonna follow him, and you’re totally welcome to come along with, m’kay?”

“A follower, I must resign myself to, for I have much to learn that was lost out of misconducted couth –

Cherub Yurio: UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH –

Cherub Minami: He’s not even rhyming!

Cherub Phichit: That’s because it’s free verse, he is miming.

Cherub Yurio -> >8(

Cherub Phichit -> :3c

“Yakov didn’t, get mad at you or anything did he?” asked Yuuri.

“Define mad.”

“Ah…”

Georgie’s gaze fell, “He just wants what’s best for me…we’re not related but…”

“His shadow covers you too,” said Yuuri wistfully.

Mari shrugged, “Parents, no matter what form they take, just want what’s ‘best’ for us, which really means satisfying their conscience that they raised us right, no matter how much it kills who we truly are.”

Georgie huffed, crossing his arms, “Regardless, I can hear him now, _‘were not I thine only nurse, I would say thou hadst suck’d wisdom from thy teat.’”_

“What?”

“Momma didn’t raise no fool, alas, my part to play on this stage is the jester,” Georgie let his head fall.

As they left the bakery, their conversation continued, Yuuri just only barely listening in as his eyes honed in on the dungeon where his love was kept –

“Hey Georgie, how is your mom doing nowadays anyway?” asked Mari, “Heard there was quite the blizzard that hit St. Petersburg.”

“Fine, last I checked, the money I’ve sent back has helped her recoup the losses from the snowstorm. I also heard the flower shop of the Nikiforovs took quite the hit, but it’s still afloat, somehow.”

Yuuri’s sight zeroed in on the front door. He wasn’t scared, perhaps nervous, was more, like it…He raised his hand to knock on the door, but it trembled in place – Mari rolled her eyes and went to knock – but the door swung open and there was a surprised Victor (armful with lovely flowers) with a fist in his face –

“OH” –

“What’s this?” smiled Victor, “That’s the oddest handshake I’ve ever seen!”

Mari pulled back, “Door knocking, just as friendly a custom, you got the goods?”

“Right here~” Victor lifted up the splendid arrangement.

“Very good~” Mari then all but pushed Yuuri into Victor, “And here’s our offering~ (*WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE*)” –

“MARI!” Yuuri hissed, both he and Victor gathering themselves before they fell over with their basket and flowers respectively.

“A wonderful transaction of good wills!” piped Georgie, “Thus this concludes a moment of reckoning?”

Victor handed off most of the flowers to Mary, keeping a very special few in his care that Yuuri immediately noticed, “Not quite.” Victor took the basket from Yuuri and placed it on a barstool inside their flower shop before closing the door behind him, Yuuri growing more flushed by the minuet, “Yuuri, if I may…?” Victor motioned for Yuuri to follow him around back –

Yuki all but shoved Yuuri’s courage towards Victor –

Yuki: FOLLOW HIM BOY –

“Um, ah, sure” –

“P-Pardon,” Georgie stumbled, “aren’t you two just supposed to exchange gifts and say you’re sorry? Aaaaaaand…that’s it?”

Victor’s blue eyes looked straight through Georgie, “This apology deserves more care, Yuuri especially, deserves a more expressed form of my atonement. Never fear, we won’t be long. Please, follow me Yuuri.”

“I must express how suspicious it is to take just him with you!” Georgie called after, “I’m supposed to return him safely home! You’re already home! I know it’s just across the street, but if there’s one person I fear more than Evgenia _, it’s Hiroko!”_

Yuuri and Victor disappeared around back, Georgie turned to Mari full of protest, but Mari just stood there with a smile, “it’s fine Georgie, Victor knows what he’s doing” –

Dimitri: NO HE DOESN’T –

Mari’s smile slipped, “…..I hope….”

Dimitri: YUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ;;;;O;;;;;

Dimitri: IT’S A TRAP!!!!

(All Cherubs, looking on from above) Cherub Minami: I don’t understand why Dimitri is flipping his lid?

Cherub Phichit: (*sigh*) I remember Yuki speaking softly about his anxiety, poor thing, it harasses him even now….

Cherub Yurio:….You know how much it sucks that we, in being up here, can see all down below, but Dimitri, and Yuki, are not but three feet from each other….and they cannot see one another at all.

Cherub Minami: I never understood that ._.

Cherub Chris: What’s there to explain? If they were able to be together, then the problem wouldn’t exist. It is the sheer will of their families that extends even into the afterlife….

Cherub Phichit: It’s cruel.

Yuuri gulped, “Doesn’t your family have security cameras? Victor….”

“Service hasn’t been paid. They don’t work anymore, they’re only a deterrent.”

“O-oh…”

“Yuuri….” Victor set down the flowers and took Yuuri’s hands, he could feel Yuuri shaking, making what Victor had to say, all the more urgent, “….The last thing I ever want to feel from you, is fear.”

“I’m not afraid” –

“Or regret. Or sadness.”

Yuuri gulped.

Dimitri gulped.

Yuki looked so relieved.

“Yuuri, my most heartfelt apology….I wish nothing but your health and happiness. I acted foolishly and without recourse for my actions.”

Cherub Yurio: Even though it WAS Nikolai that choked on the bread!

Cherub Phichit: How can he be faulted for that?! It was an accident!

Cherub Chris: The toxic impulses of their families reaches the furthest inwards. It is important to know the poison that sickened you in the first place.

The couple locked eyes, thus Yuuri could see for himself every influx of truth from Victor’s voice…. _“Yuuri, I am so sorry.”_

While holding his hands, Victor felt, and saw, all tension release from Yuuri’s body.

“I threw the violets. What could have just been a spat of words became an outright brawl, it should have never escalated beyond that, but when my aunt called you such terrible things,” Victor smiled with remorse, “Suddenly I couldn’t think of anything else but to protect you, although, admittedly, I went about it in the wrong way….” Victor held up Yuuri’s hand to his face, and kissed it, and he may as well have kissed Yuuri’s bare heart. “Please know that I would never, ever, put you or your family in harms’ way. Next time…alas there will be one, I will find a much more peaceful solution to protect the one thing I care about more than anything else in the universe.”

Cherub Minami: CONFESSION 8D

Cherub Yurio: Confession?

Cherub Chris: Confession ;3

Cherub Phichit: Confession ;;w;;

Yuki: Confession 8D!!

Dimitri: Oh no –

Yuuri smiled so sweetly, “…Oh Victor, I’m so happy we’re on the same page about our families getting along!”

Cherub Yurio: HE’S PURPOSELY MISGUIDING HIMSELF –

_“No, Yuuri, well of course that is important to me but” –_

“There’s a lot of work to be done in reckoning the hostility between our generations, but, maybe…..” Yuuri looked up so hopefully to Victor, melting his heart, “One day, all this hatred, all this sadness, and despair, can be just a bad dream…”

Cherub Chris: Everyone, behold, for all the fear and anxiety and sadness Yuuri had, Victor has washed it all away – he speaks of hope, of a future he has dreamed of, and Victor illuminates those desperate feelings~

Cherub Minami: And he doesn’t even realize it! All the uncertainty that Yuuri grapples with, _here,_ it’s but an after-thought!

Cherub Phichit: Yuuri’s heart speaks truth he can’t hear. It’s okay to be in love. It’s especially okay to be in love with Victor. His desires, his time with Victor right now, is overriding years and years’ worth of crippling issues. A Katsuki, and a Nikiforov, are sharing such intimacy in the face of decades of premediated hate. Ugh. It’s almost too much to bear, I understand why Yuuri’s mind has fenced itself to feel only certain things at a time.

Cherub Yurio: Yeah okay great, point of the matter, doesn’t Yuuri realize he already has his answer?

Yuuri puffed himself, “I do appreciate your defense of me, even though it could have been done better, Auntie Evgenia, she’s just, such a hot head! I hope one day, she sees that her words, her actions, are quite destructive…!”

Victor relented the moment, letting his confession get swept along with the tide of conversation, “And the sea will rise into space my dear.”

Yuuri smirked, “I suppose….” Yuuri then smiled so warmly at Victor, and Victor, felt lighter than air in being graced with such a beautiful sight….“I hope you like the sweets we brought, I, personally made them, all…”

“Then I shall savor every bite” –

“You should share them” –

“The only other person who eats them is Nikolai, and after yesterday, he’s been on a liquid diet.”

“Oh no!”

“So they’re all _mine,”_ Victor squeezed Yuuri’s hands, Yuuri blushed, even more so! Victor internalized his musings, *I am going to make my feelings clear to you Yuuri…*

“Th-then I hope you enjoy them.”

_*I swear it…*_

Victor, almost reluctantly, let go of Yuuri’s hands to gather up the flowers and present them to him, they were roses, a carnation, orchid, and lilies – “Forgive me, I couldn’t settle on just one, so I chose the pretties of our stock….to even have a chance to compare to you, nothing less will do.”

Yuki:….He wasn’t listening 8D

Yuuri’s curiosity had him glued to a rose that looked to be _vibrating….._ Yuuri shifted curiously at the flower, tilting his head, *That sound….* Yuuri looked to Victor, “Um, does your flower buzz at me?”

Victor was lost in Yuuri’s eyes, “It dost buzz at you – _wait,”_ Victor snapped out of it, “I mean, shoo bee! Shoo!” Victor lightly tapped the flower till the bee crawled out on his finger and flew away. Yuuri giggled, making Victor’s stomach and knees float –

“I can still remember when you used to be so afraid of insects” –

“Spiders, it was mainly spiders,” Victor blushed, “bees I’ve never had a problem with.”

Yuuri smiled broadly, “It’s a memory I’m very fond of.”

It was taking everything Victor had to withstand Yuuri’s sheer radiance, he maintained his cool façade with great effort, “Do please share, sometimes all I can recall in my head is air.”

Yuuri giggled again, and Victor thought to himself, * _This is how I die.*_

“We couldn’t have been older than four, or five, we were at the park for some picnic, surely not a joint one, and I remember hearing a small cry from the bushes. I went to investigate, and found you curled up on the ground, your arms shielding yourself from this large spider lowering itself just near you.”

Spider -> >:c

Victor -> ;;;;;O;;;;;

A curled knuckle went to Victor’s chin, “Ah yes, I remember now, I had made it mad by plucking a flower that had been a tentpole for its web. If you hadn’t come and shooed it away, I would have been trapped there all day!”

“All that stress for a flower that you ended up giving to me, the kiss you gave on my cheek would have been enough.”

It was Victor’s turn to melt Yuuri with just a glance as Yuuri realized what he just said, his heart skipping a beat –

Cherub Minami: (*SLAMS HANDS ON CLOUD*) CONFESSION! (*SLAM*) CONFESSION (*SLAM*) CONFESSION (*SLAM*) –

Cherub Yurio: STOP IT –

Victor suddenly looked to the sky, *Thunder?*

“I-I-I-I’m sorry Victor I have to go now” –

Yuuri’s flight or fight response supercharged itself up, but Victor grabbed Yuuri’s wrists with both hands, keeping him in place, “Yuuri, please” –

“W-W-We’ll talk later! I have to get back over to our bakery, you know, keep making sweets, keep our business and livelihood alive – I’m mean afloat – SAYONARA” – Victor’s grip was no match for Yuuri’s anxiety and Yuuri pulled himself free with ease –

_“Yuuri!”_

Yuuri froze, turning in place to see the saddest sight he had ever witnessed, Victor, _looking sad,_ nothing should dull those beautiful blue eyes! – But Victor gathered himself up, determination taking over his woe, “I won’t give up Yuuri! You mean far too much to me to ever” –

“You already have me.”

Simultaneously, their hearts passed on skipping a beat, and just plain stopped –

Yuki: 8D!!!

Dimitri: OnO;;;

Victor and Yuuri were both frozen in a moment in time, till the return of their pulse finally broke the freeze – and Yuuri just straight up bolted – _*GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WHY DID I SAY THAT????????*_

_“Yuuri!”_

“We’ll meet again! Under the cloak of dark! Find me!” _*GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHY DID I SAY THAT TOO??????????*_

Victor just watched Yuuri’s form bolt back into his home, leaving Mari laughing up a storm, she giving Victor a thumbs up, and Georgie looking every shade of perplexed, fearing he was gonna taste the wrath of Hiroko as the Katsuki door slammed shut behind him.

Even from across the street, Victor could hear Yuuri’s tumultuous climb up the stairs into his room before crashing into what he could only assume to be his bed, Yuuri wailing all the while.

*What strong lungs my love has,* Victor thought, his hand went over his chest, his heart feeling so warm…his soul feeling so free…..*He means to pursue me, to pursue, _us….*_ Victor’s determination solidified, he was to FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR YUURI – *Right! Come nightfall, I shall journey over to the House of Katsuki, and there, I shall seal our bond forever, _I shall ask for his hand in marriage!*_

Cherub Phichit: WHAT –

Cherub Yurio: HOE SLOW DOWN – Y’ALL JUST BARELY CONFESSED – !

Cherub Chris: Oh MY~

Cherub Minami: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS >8D!!!!!

Dimitri:…..You can’t send a letter….? A postcard…? A musical gram….?????? A TEXT?????? (*Dimitri rakes his hands down his face*) _It’s a trap…..It’s a trap and you’re both walking right into it……_

**.**

**.**

**.**

That night, Victor slipped out of his home, leaving an empty bed and snoring brother behind. He scaled down from their second story easily, landing squarely on his feet, and right into the sight of one of their decommissioned security cameras. Victor winked and threw up a victory sign at it before making his way across the street.

Dimitri: *INTERNALLY SCREAMING* –

Cherub Yurio: He’s really going through with this.

Cherub Chris: Oh yes! He is drawn by the promise of never-ending, all-encompassing, warmest reaching depths of love~!

Cherub Yurio: He wants that ass.

Cherub Phichit: He’s seriously going to propose to Yuuri now…?

Cherub Minami: Look at him go! 8D!!!

Cherub Yurio: He’s uttering his self-proclaimed theme song…Listen –

_“Don't stop us now, the moment of truth~_

_We were, born to make history~_

_We'll make it happen! We'll turn it around~_

_Yes, we were born to make history~”_

Cherub Minami: ;;;;;w;;;;;;

Cherub Yurio: If he gets caught by those security cams, he IS history.

Victor began his sneak, once he got to the other side of the street, there was the tiniest of breath between the Katuski’s land and the shop next to them, a cute little antique place. Alas (for Victor) the Katsuki family had a working security system that functioned exceptionally well.

Cherub Yurio: Now what dummy.

Cherub Chris: Just watch, see what true love can allow someone high on faith to accomplish.

Victor walked with the stealth of a cat, in fact there was a cat, watching Victor from the rooftop of the antique place –

Cherub Phichit: Don’t you dare.

Cherub Yurio: Relax, I’m going to help him, I can’t sit here while knowing he’s going to make such a fool of himself – and Dimitri is too much a wreck to help anyhow –

As the cameras tilted themselves this way and that, Victor approached, watching for their blind spots that were no more than the width of this body, and with the camera’s moving, their line of sight ever overlapping one another, that blind spot came and appeared as randomly as a fleeting bird.

The cat leapt down from its perch, silently surprising Victor, and Victor watched as the cat threatened his whole operation – “No! Bad kitty! Bad kitty!”

Cherub Yurio: Watch dummy.

And Victor watched the cat walk through the mine yard of camera views, up to the wall of the Katuki home, climbed up the ivy, and leap up to the ledge where Yuuri’s window was, basking in the light that came from it.

Cherub Yurio: You, are welcome, now wait until the cameras –

Victor bolted –

Cherub Yurio: YOU IDIOT –

He might have not have had the luck of the cats, but he certainly had the knowledge of someone who has been gazing, a long, long, long, long, LONG TIME at the House of Katuski, and so all the Cherubs above, and Dimitri (who honestly at this point is about to have a ghost heart attack, if that’s possible) watched Victor ninja himself over every turn, glance, and twitch of a camera, with not even a flick of his hair getting snapped by a lens.

Cherub Chris: WOW.

Cherub Phichit:…..You’d think he’s had this planned……

Cherub Yurio:………………………….OKAY.

The cat moved only slightly from its perch, to set off the cameras now would be just plain mean.

Victor made it to the wall and glued himself like a fly to the sidings, scaling it with perfect ease like a bug, and finally situated himself on the corner of the ledge nearest Yuuri’s window. He was covered by the shadows, so no passerby could see him, but if they did, surely, they would think he’s a burglar of some kind –

Cherub Chris: The only thing he’s stealing here is Yuuri’s heart! ;3

Cherub Minami: We’ll see about that >:3c

Victor, pulled by the light from Yuuri’s window, could focus on nothing else – _“’But soft! What light through yonder window breaks!’”_

Cherub Yurio: Oh here we gooooooooooooo –

Victor just barely peeked up over the window ledge, he could see Yuuri in his bathroom, brushing his teeth, looking just awful and so beautiful at the same time,

_“It is the East, and Yuuri is the sun’” –_

Cherub Yurio: Okay we’ve heard that damn speech so many times let’s fast forward here peoples, Victor is just gushing over Yuuri and how beautiful he is, yadda, yadda –

“Oh my love,” Victor whispered to himself, “I’ll put all your ailments to rest….” Yuuri bent over the sink, spitting out the toothpaste and began washing his face, rubbing all over, Victor looking longingly all the while, sighing, “Oh…that I might touch that cheek….”

Cherub Yurio: He means his face –

Cherub Chris: Oh I doubt that.

Once clean, Yuuri shuffled his way over to his bed, not looking where he was going, lost in his tormenting thoughts, and bumped his toe against his dresser – _“SHIT” –_

“He speaks!” Victor chirped.

Cherub Yurio: He has a vocal cords!

_“My toe, ow, ow, aye me!”_

Cherub Yurio: AYE ME –

Victor sighed, “’Oh speak again, bright angel, for thou art’” –

Cherub Yurio: BLAH BLAH BLAH GUSHING OVER YUURI AGAIN WE GET IT –

Yuuri sinks down onto his chair, massaging his toe, he looks about his room, his musings catching up to him over the pain that so rudely interrupted his evening.

Yuuri sighed, “This pain is nothing compared to the tempest in my heart…..I can gain one thing…and yet another I would have to part……O’ Victor, Victor! Wherefore art thou Victor?’” –

Cherub Yurio: UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH –

Cherub Phichi: X3

Cherub Chris: Aye me~

Cherub Minami: It’s getting closer owo~ To the good part~ OwO~~~~~

Victor was all but ready to climb through that damn window – Yuuri continued as his gaze lazily sorted about his room–

 _“’O, be some other name!_  
What's in a name? that which we call a rose  
By any other name would smell as sweet’” –

Cherub Yurio: That’s it, title drop, story over, peace out everyone –

 _“’And for that name….’”_ Yuuri paused….his wandering eyes…..landed on a most frightening view – !

Yuki: Be calm –

Dimitri: NOPE –

From Yuuri’s point of view, all he sees is the dark, dark shadow over his window and two peering blue eyes from the darkness – *blink, blink* –

_“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” –_

“No! No! Yuuri it’s me!” Victor went to get up, but he slipped! His foot knocked one of the cameras off center and the alarm went off!

Yuuri rushed over and threw his window up – _“V-Victor?!”_

“At least I get to see you one more time before I die” –

_“Get in here!”_

Yuuri helped pull Victor through his window before a camera could spot him – all the lights turned on in the house, the couple hearing Yuuri’s parents thundering all about the place – Yuuri rushed Victor to his closet –

 _“What in gods’ name were you thinking!?”_ Yuuri hissed –

“Only of yo” –

Yuuri slammed the closet door over Victor’s face just in time before his parents barreled into his room – “YUURI?! YUURI ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”

“WE HEARD SCREAMS” –

“Fine! Fine mom! I’m, perfectly fine!”

Both his parents were dressed in something akin to riot gear, Yuuri cleared his throat, trying to get his heart under control – they were but feet from Victor – !

“Eh heh, it was just, it was just a, HUGE RAT, that crossed my windowsill! But, it must have tripped off the cameras and the sounds scared it away.”

Both Yuuri’s parents looked to the windowsill and saw nothing –

Cherub Yurio: I admit my cat added absolutely nothing to this whole charade. Ugh, is this what Georgie feels like? BLEH –

“A rat huh?” said Hiroko, “Hopefully an alley cat will catch it then, alright Mari! Turn off the systems!”

The alarms finally shut off. Yuuri’s heart was still beating at a 100mph in his throat.

“I don’t like the presence of rats,” said Toshiya, “Forget a cat, we’ve got a lot of stock at stake, and where there’s one rat, there’s another, hmp, probably crawled over from the Nikiforov’s place” –

“Oh I wouldn’t doubt that for a second!” Hiroko chimed in.

Yuuri was sweating bullets.

“I’ll put poison out tomorrow, we can’t take any chances.”

“Agreed,” Hiroko turned to Yuuri, “We’re glad you’re okay sweetie, get some good rest, we’ll see you tomorrow in the morning.”

“Will do momma, goodnight!”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight rat charmer” –

_“Toshiya” –_

“It’s because our son is so sweet” –

Yuuri closed his door on his parent’s banter and slid down to the floor in exhaustion, gasping for breath, he heard his closet door creak open, “Yuuri?”

“It’s safe to come out now,” came Yuuri’s muffled voice.

“Are you alright?”

Yuuri shot Victor a look that Victor was scared to read –

Victor tried to sooth over the mood, “Well, that was an exciting couple of minuets!”

Cherub Yurio: (*BUZZER NOISE FAIL*)

“I didn’t mean to cause such a ruckus, your family has a wonderful security system, I can sleep well in knowing how safe you are” –

Yuuri pushed himself up, too full of too many emotions at once to say much to Victor other than assess the situation at hand – “ _I won’t be able to sneak you out till morning, so you’re stuck here for tonight – if your mission was to try to give me a heart attack – you very much almost succeeded!”_

Victor recoiled slightly under Yuuri’s upset huffings, his love had no business being this cute in being so upset –

_“Victor!”_

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but you said to find” –

_“I don’t know why I said that!”_

Yuki: It was me :3c

Yuki: Admittedly I could have interpreted Yuuri’s will better.

“You just! OOH!” Yuuri tried to calm himself by closing his eyes and centering on deep breaths, Victor tried to get near Yuuri, but Yuuri smelled his approach, “And you smell like outside, I’ll fix you a bath, I’ve already taken one, so I’ll keep watch if, anyone else comes to my room…much less upstairs.”

“Would you have taken a bath wi” –

One angry glance from Yuuri and Victor decided not to push his chances and zipped it.

Cherub Phichit: Well that happened.

Cherub Chris: Happened it did!

Cherub Minami: Victor takes his bath, and Yuuri gives him some of his clothes to wear in the meantime, it’s not much, but then again there doesn’t need to be ewe

Cherub Phichit: I’m surprised Victor isn’t going to sleep on the floor –

Cherub Chris: Please! It’s not as if these two never shared a bed before together! They just weren’t this old, and in one of their homes, trapped by security cameras. Sleep is their best sanctuary after all, for in their dreams, there’s none of this petty feud. There is only love <3

Cherub Yurio: Woo.

Cherub Yurio: So. Now they’re in bed together. For reals.

Cherub Minami: OWO!!!!

Cherub Yurio: To sleep I’m sure.

Cherub Minami: _OWO!!!!!!!!!!_

Cherub Yurio: What else are they going to do.

Cherub Minami: **_OWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_**

Victor looked at the wall. They weren’t smushed in Yuuri’s bed, but they couldn’t exactly spread out either. “Are you, comfortable Yuuri…?”

“….I’ll live.”

“………”

“……..”

“I mean it’s not like we haven’t fallen asleep together before,” said Yuuri.

Cherub Chris: Called it uwu

“Oh yes, in the park, where no one could find us.”

“Hm.”

“………………”

“………………”

“……………..”

“We had made that silly pact remember?” said Yuuri, “To stay together no matter what, to runaway, and see the world. We made it to the park, used it as our base, for about an entire hour before we conked out, we couldn’t have been more than what, six? Five?”

“Five I think.”

“The entire town was looking for us!”

“And our families were just beside themselves, blaming each other of course, when they found us.”

“……That night I went to my room and cried.”

“Me too.”

“………”

“……..”

“…….So why did you come over here?”

“Honestly? If I tell you now, I fear I’ll get a very different response than” –

“And what response were you hoping for? Sneaking into my room into the dead of night?”

“Well the alarm going off certainly put a sour on the mood.”

Yuki: Yuuri. You have Victor alone now. Is this not the scenario requested? SURE, it could have gone better, but COME ON – he risked himself, just like that! What does that tell you Yuuri? What does it say?

Dimitri: VICTOR IS AN IDIOT –

Yuki: Yuuri, now is the time, now is your chance! _The chance!_ To put all your worries and fears to bed, well, some of them, at least (*AHEM*) _he loves you Yuuri,_ he loves you with everything he is! But you already know that, _don’t you? You have to see this Yuuri, you have to feel it, and you have to hear it, stop listening to those stupid negative voices and listen to your heart –_

Yuuri swallowed….. He turned around to face Victor, and Victor, upon hearing Yuuri move, turned around to look at Yuuri too. “Tell me Victor.” Yuuri reached out and put his hand on Victor’s cheek, “What brought you here?” –

Cherub Yurio: Hey now –

“Something of utmost importance pushed you to do this…be it my foolhardy command that you so blindly accepted, such danger my reckless words cast upon us, that you faced without hesitation…..” Yuuri looked deeply into Victor’s eyes, “….You have an answer for me, one I know as fact and yet…..and yet……”

Victor’s entire demeanor went from warm, to ‘I AM IN LOVE WITH A MAN AND HIS NAME IS YUURI KATSUKI’….He situated himself on his elbow, leaning over Yuuri, “An answer I have for you…as one you gave me, ‘you already have me.’ These words crossed your lips…..and little do you know…. _how many times they have crossed mine.”_

Yuuri tried to stop himself from tearing up, but he was failing.

 _“Oh my dearest Yuuri,_ I have said it _so much,_ repeated time and time again, against the inquisition of your anxiety…against the wishes of our families….I know you’re scared….and I must admit, there are times I am too…. _but with you_ …. _with you_ _Yuuri_ …..I feel I can fly….I feel I can soar! I feel reality itself lose all constraints and all that lays before me…is us….”

Victor leaned into Yuuri’s hand, nuzzling it, and his own hand made its way over to rest on Yuuri’s chest; he could feel Yuuri’s heartbeat.

Yuuri smiled through his watery glance, his voice cracking, but with a joyful nuance, _“’Good Pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this….’”_

Victor leaned down to Yuuri, _“’If I profane with my unworthiest hand_ _, this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand, to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss….’”_

Yuuri’s eyes drew lidded, as did Victor’s, Yuuri leaned up, Victor down, and their lips met with the gentlest touch, deepening with a motion from Victor, and in another, their foreheads rested on one another, their eyes opening, the both of them completely lost in the comfort of the other, Victor gathering just enough of himself to whisper to Yuuri, “….I’ve come to ask for your hand, to make the once silly little pact from our childhood, a prayer we carry with us, _everyday,_ I’ve come to ask you to marry me Yuuri…I love you so much…. _I love you, so much…..”_

The smile that spread over Yuuri’s face sealed their fates.

_“Oh Victor……you already have me.”_

Their lips met again in a kiss, and again, and again, and again, Yuuri cupping Victor’s face, Victor wrapping his arms around Yuuri –

Cherub Yurio: OH. MY. GOD. BECKY – I CAN’T, I CAN’T BELIEVE YUURI AGREED!!! _AND NOW THEY’RE –_

Cherub Minami: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 8D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cherub Phichit: _They’re just, right here, right now, they’re,_ _they’re – (*Cherub Phichit.exe has stopped working*) –_

Cherub Chris: **( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

Cherub Minami: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ

Yuki: Nice~

Dimitri: Goodbye everyone 8’)

**.**

**.**

**.**

The couple lay in soft repose. Victor holding Yuuri tenderly from behind, curled up to his touch…. Yuuri awakens momentarily….They are as close as they could possibly be, a blanket over them, and nothing between them.

This is not a dream.

Victor is here.

This happened.

It is possible.

And oh so real.

Yuuri sighs lovingly against a comforting ache.

_All my worries are suddenly tucked neatly in a pocket,_

_Truth laid bare as a flowering bud is my plea,_

_My heart now formed into a locket,_

_And Victor is the key._

**.**

**.**

**.**

“Yuuri~! Yuuri come on now, we’ve got a lot to get done today, mom needs you downstairs. Yuuri~ Yuuri~~~~ Pbbth, sleepy baby brother” – Mari entered Yuuri’s room, still wiping sleep from her eyes, “Come one now Yuuri, mom wants you to” – and froze…unless she was seeing phantoms, there was an arm draped over Yuuri, dear Yuuri who was snuggled up against something behind him. Then she saw a leg, then she saw white hair, then she saw the outline of the body wrapped around Yuuri so tightly, Victor, who nuzzled Yuuri further in his sleep.

Mari did a double take, did one more, two more, opening and closing the door as if the reality would magically somehow change – her mouth opened and close but nothing came out till –

“Mari what are you doing? Where’s Yuuri? Yuuri dear!” –

“MOM” – Mari slammed the door shut, hoping it would wake her IDIOT BROTHER UP – “MOM, UM, HE’S GETTING DRESSED, MOMMY, MOMMY COME WITH ME” –

“Ow, _ow Mari,_ what, what are you _doing – ?!”_

“I FORGOT TO ICE THE MOCHI” –

“Oh for heavens sake!”

Yuuri stirred, ever so slightly, but upon feeling Victor’s warmth, he almost drifted off back to sleep…Victor’s warmth _…..*OH MY GOD* –_ Yuuri shot up like a rocket – _“Victor! Victor! Get up, get up! Get dressed!”_

“Mmmmh, no, no stay, with me” –

_“Victor you’re in my house!”_

Mari was making all sorts of noise in the kitchen, Hiroko yelling over her bewildered antics, “YOU’LL DROP THE TRAY” – the clanging of a dropped tray rang throughout the house – “OH FOR THE LOVE OF” –

With adrenaline surging through him, Yuuri hauled Victor’s sleepy form up and over, Victor finally getting some of his motor functions to come back online, “What time is it?”

 _“Time to leave”_ – Yuuri dressed the sleepy Victor, pulling his pants up, yanking his shirt back over his head, _“And here I thought I was the heavy sleeper between the two of us!”_

“I thought our relationship was a more than a hookup, now is cuddles time” –

Both of them suddenly heard Hiroko’s stomping steps coming up the stairs, Victor’s internal OH SHIT-‘O’-METER going off the charts!

_“YUURI!” –_

Yuuri and Victor quickly scouted a place for the Nikiforov to hide – the both of them honing in on Yuuri’s closet – his bedroom door swung wide open –

“Yuuri! Yuuri dear, it’s past eight o’clock! You know better than to sleep in on a work day!”

Yuuri stood innocently, alone, in the middle of his room, desperately trying to regulate the temperature of his face from boiling over red, “Ah, ah, yes, I’m, so sorry, I’ll be right down” –

“…Darling you look absolutely feverish, are you feeling alright?”

“I’M FINE” –

Hiroko walked over and touched all around his face, “You are terribly warm…Did something happen last night? You weren’t able to sleep after that alarm fiasco were you?”

“Honestly momma I’m fine” –

“Let’s get you dressed into something a bit more comfortable for today” –

“I can dress myself!”

“Then you’d already be downstairs and ready to start the day” – her hand was on the closet door knob –

“NO” –

Hiroko opened the closet door and moved Yuuri’s clothes about, Victor was nowhere to be seen – ! Yuuri was about to have a damned heart attack – !!!

“Oh….Mh.” Hiroko shut the closet door, “Do forgive me Yuuri, I did it again, stepping over your boundaries….You are absolutely right. You’re an adult, and soon you’re going to be managing our family business…” Hiroko sighed, “Sometimes…I cling a little too hard to the past…”

Yuki: NO SHIT.

Hiroko walked up to her son, “Never forget that no matter how old you get, you’re always going to be my little boy, I love you so much…I’ll see you downstairs Yuuri, but you _are_ late, gather yourself up, and show me what a fine young man you’ve become,” his mother smiled, and left, closing his room door.

Yuuri nearly fainted down to the floor, for as soon as Hiroko’s footsteps faded away, Victor dropped from the top of the closet, landing somewhat gracefully on his knees.

There came a knock at the door, a rhythm type of knock, Victor scrambled back into the closet, but Yuuri assured him it was okay, “It’s Mari,” but just to be sure, when he opened the door he peeked through first, and sure enough there was Mari, glaring at him, she pushed herself inside, closing Yuuri’s door with her back, spatula in hand –

 _“What the hell are you two thinking!?”_ _(*WHAP*) – (*WHAP*) –_

“Ow!”

“Ow!”

“What if mom had found you?!” _(*WHAP*) –_

“Ow!”

“Do you have any idea what will happen your banshee of a matriarch found out you were here???” –

This time Yuuri caught the spatula before it smacked Victor – “I’m going to _sneak_ him out!”

“We did have plan in place,” said Victor –

Mari grabbed both of their ears making Yuuri and Victor wince on the spot – “Honestly! You two are going to bury not only yourselves but our families!”

_“Ow – ow!”_

_“Mari stop it!”_

Mari let go with a huff, her hands sitting squarely on her hips, “Listen,” she tut-tutting right in Victor’s flushed face, “I called Nikolai, he’s covering for you, so you need to go to the store and pick up some groceries that you _so selflessly_ decided to go get this morning instead of waking up in my brother’s bed! _Capiche?”_

“Consider it Capiched.”

“And you?” Yuuri matched Mari’s glare, “Explain this!”

“We’re engaged,” said Yuuri.

Mari’s mouth dropped….. _“You…you want to run that by me again…?”_

“We’re engaged,” Yuuri repeated.

 _“You….”_ Mari dropped her hands into her face, standing fully back up, hands over her mouth, before they balled into fists by her side, “Engaged?! En…Are you kidding me!? And you say you’re, wait, wait, this is too much, I’m sorry” –

“I thought you were on my side, on our side,” said Yuuri with genuine hurt in his voice. “Haven’t you and Nikolai ever given thought where your friendship might end up?”

“This is different Yuuri” –

_“Explain to me how!”_

_“It’s…..”_ Mari sighed, her hands going to her face again, “……You really are a handful you know?”

Victor put his arm around Yuuri, pulling him in close, and Yuuri put his arm all the same around Victor.

“…….So you two are on the same page on this then?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely.”

Mari crossed her arms, her glance greatly softened, if not REALLY FREAKING WORRIED, “….Exactly how do you think this is going to play out you guys?”

“Oh where, oh where have my wonderful children gone~?” called Hiroko from downstairs.

Mari sighed again, rubbing her temple, “Look, let’s just, get Victor out of here, and, we’ll hold a skype convo later on, all four of us, okay?”

“Okay.”

Working together, the Katsuki siblings were able to sneak Victor out, Mari distracting her parents by saying she thought she saw something on the cameras, but saw nothing, so maybe they needed a reboot! Thus while the cams were rebooting, Yuuri snuck Victor out the back, into the tight crease between their bakery and the antique shop, Victor giving Yuuri one last look before slipping into the shadows –

“Parting is such sweet sorrow my love” –

“Well you better take your parts and run before my parents see us” –

And yet they both stole another second to share a parting kiss before Victor disappeared out of sight, Yuuri slipped back into his home just as the cameras came back on, slipping a thumbs up to Mari, Mari just glaring back at him.

Cherub Phichit: Well, alls well that ends well…!

Cherub Yurio: HA.

Victor stopped by the store, picked up said groceries, and made his way back home to a very flustered Nikolai, a grandmother that barely acknowledged his presence, and his aunt and uncle, his aunt, Evgenia, chewing his ear off for not answering his phone, all of which didn’t phase Victor, as the only thing he could think about now was that he and Yuuri were engaged.

Victor all but floated up to his room after putting up the groceries, he closely tailed by his brother, the both of them tuning out Evgenia bitching to their grandmother, and together they were sealed in their room – as soon as their door shut, Nikolai grabbed Victor by his shoulders –

_“What were you thinking?!”_

“Hm~”

“Do you have any idea what was going through my mind when I woke up and saw your bed empty?!”

“After all the nights where I woke and saw _your’s_ empty, I didn’t think you’d react too much” –

“Ouch Victor, ouch, this is different” –

“Oh my god you two are now even sounding the same,” Victor spat –

“So you and Yuuri are, you guys are really…?”

“Engaged? Yes. And we sealed our love then and there.”

“Wait….WAIT, YOU….” Nikolai gasped, setting himself down on his bed, bringing his knees up to his chest, and his hands up to his mouth, _“Oh my god Victor,”_ he gasped, _“You and Yuuri – in Yuuri’s bed – in the Katsuki’s house?! Victor! In their house, in Yuuri’s room! In Yuuri’s bed! I – I thought you just went over there to talk, not take him as your bouncing bed buddy!”_

“Oh please! You teased me all the time” –

_“I never thought you’d actually go through with it!”_

_“Surprise! Our feelings for one another, are very real!”_

Nikolai laid back on his bed, hands over his face at the incredulousness of it all, pulling a disbelieving chuckle from him, _“Oh Victor, you hound~ You deflowered Yuuri Katsuki in his own home! I mean, in being a gardener, a florist, would anyone really expect anything else?”_

_“Expect me being Yuuri Katsuki’s husband.”_

_“Oh my gooooooooooooooood” –_

**.**

Yuuri looked at his ringless finger, yet he could all but feel the golden band that would one day adorn it.

And a very sudden, and very real realization hit Yuuri as he took notice of a culinary school pamphlet on his desk.

Cherub Yurio: NOW WHAT DUMB-ASS???????????

Yuuri walked about his room, his heart rate growing faster with each step he took, and yet….and yet……

_*….’Can I go forward when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out….’*_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again please accept my most sincere apologies ;_; This story will be finished ASAP X<


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